It had to be admitted that the policies of the Ming Emperor towards the Ottomans, the short and stout, the English, and a host of other barbarians were particularly like those of a scumbag. What's more, he was worse than a scumbag—a scumbag at least offered warmth to many young ladies with his singular efforts, while Emperor Zhu, on the other hand, did everything he could to harm them one by one, and after harming one, he would find a way to harm the next.
As Xu the Scumbag said: Emperor Zhu came and went gently, waving his hand without taking a cloud with him.
Leaving behind a mess of chicken feathers and duck blood.
Compared to Emperor Zhu, the ultimate scumbag, Zhu Jianying, the eldest son of the Ming Empire, was much more devoted.
Facing Emperor Zhu's act of drawing his little bird and leaving, Zhu Jianying couldn't help but ask, "Is that it?"
Emperor Zhu smiled and asked, "What? Do we have to stay in the Ottoman Empire and personally watch that idiot Mahmud II find Alexander, George III, and Francis II? Or, do we have to personally witness the start of the Suez Canal construction?"
Zhu Jianying pouted and said, "Otherwise? You've pointed a clear path for Mahmud II, but if he doesn't follow your words, won't we lose a lot?"
Emperor Zhu chuckled and began to patiently teach his foolish son, "Let me ask you, do you think Mahmud, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, hates the Great Ming? And do the people in the Ottoman court hate the Great Ming?"
Zhu Jianying pondered and replied, "Mahmud naturally hates our Great Ming, but it's hard to say about the people in the Ottoman court. I suppose some hate us, and some don't."
Emperor Zhu hummed and said, "Let's not worry about how many people in the Ottoman court don't hate our Great Ming. Let's just talk about those who do—if they want to resist the Great Ming, don't they need guns and cannons?"
"Given the current sorry state of the Ottoman Empire, how much money do you think they have for recruiting soldiers, and how much can they spend on purchasing or developing and producing military equipment?"
"Although the Ottoman Empire has colluded with the Sand Empire, England, and the Habsburg family, with the Ottoman Empire's strength, how much benefit can they gain from this so-called alliance? Can the hundreds of years of grudges between the Ottoman Empire and the Sand Empire be put aside just like that?"
"Our ancestors in the Central Plains once said that people die for wealth, and birds die for food. As long as the Ottoman Empire wants to have a say in the so-called alliance, and as long as the Ottoman Empire wants to resist the Great Ming, they must first have enough money."
"Although the method I told Mahmud is clearly to trick them, this method can genuinely bring them benefits."
"Therefore, no matter how dissatisfied Mahmud is, no matter how much he hates us, he will have to honestly do as we say. He will even promise the benefits of the Suez Canal to George III and the others, in exchange for the help of England, the Sand Empire, and the Habsburg family."
"This is the advantage of an open conspiracy."
"Furthermore, even if Mahmud cannot figure out the benefits here, and he doesn't plan to honestly dig the Suez Canal as we ordered, don't we have other ways to deal with him?"
"For example, can we mobilize several military bases near the Ottoman Empire to conduct a military exercise for him?"
At this point, Emperor Zhu smiled and patted Zhu Jianying's shoulder, "Remember, we are the Great Ming. There are thousands of ways to achieve our goals. There is no need to choose the stupidest and most tiring one."
Facts proved that Emperor Zhu's prediction was correct—Mahmud II was naturally very displeased with the Great Ming. After all, the cheap sale of Ottoman oil meant that Mahmud II's interests were being lost. Although officials in the Ottoman court who hated the Great Ming instinctively wanted to oppose the idea of digging the Suez Canal, they were unwilling to give up the substantial benefits brought by the construction of the Suez Canal. Moreover, many officials in the Ottoman court who admired the Great Ming strongly supported this plan, leading to the swift approval of this almost magical and laughable plan by the Ottoman court.
To ensure the smooth implementation of this magical plan, and to prevent George III, Alexander, and Francis II from opposing it, Mahmud II first brought all the officials and nobles in the entire Ottoman court into the Suez Canal project. Then, he dispatched a large number of personnel to England, the Sand Empire, and the territories of the Habsburg family to lobby everywhere.
Winning over the Ottoman nobles and officials was simple, and lobbying the European nobles and capitalists was even simpler—Mahmud II promised that all nobles and officials participating in the construction of the Suez Canal project would be shareholders, and as long as the Suez Canal was completed, everyone could lie at home and wait to collect money.
Such an outrageously clever move was not only unexpected by George III and Alexander, but even Emperor Zhu, the instigator, did not expect it.
Then, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but have a headache.
Confucius once said, "He who originates a thing is without offspring?"
As pleased as Emperor Zhu was when he was tricking Mahmud II and the Ottoman Empire, he was now as troubled—capital is always profit-seeking, and the benefits that could be obtained from digging the Suez Canal were there for all to see. Which capitalist would not be tempted?
Especially the local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming.
As everyone knows, the Great Ming implemented a grand imperial court system. Infrastructure projects such as canals, bridges, and railways were strictly controlled by the imperial court. The local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming had plenty of Dragon Yuan banknotes but could not extend their hands into these infrastructure projects.
If they didn't earn, it was a huge loss, a loss to their grandmother's house, a loss so great that they would have to sell their underpants to get money.
Originally, the local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming thought that even if they lost, they would just make up for it elsewhere—mainly because the Ming Emperor tightly controlled the court and the army, and if they couldn't afford to offend, they could only hide.
Now, upon hearing that Mahmud II announced the construction of the Suez Canal and even intended to introduce a large amount of European capital, could the local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming still sit still?
Damn it, do those European barbarians have the nerve to call themselves local gentry and scholars?
Bah, they are just savages who eat raw meat and drink blood!
Come, come, Mr. Mahmud, let's see how much money this project needs. It's not a problem for us merchants of the Great Ming to invest all of it!
As for whether Mahmud II dared to default on future dividends?
The local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming were completely unconcerned—let alone the fact that doing business inherently involves gains and losses. For the sake of avoiding potential risks, they wouldn't be foolish enough to invest their entire fortunes. Even if Mahmud II dared to deliberately default, the local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming would not care.
Or rather, the local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming even hoped that Mahmud II would default.
Because the Ottoman Empire is not the Great Ming, and the Ming Law does not protect the Ottoman Empire.
Wang Zixuan, that shameless fellow, stirred up trouble in Benghazi and even received a plaque of first-class merit. Could we, the local gentry and scholars, be worse than him?
Therefore, the development of events once again showed a tendency to slip out of Emperor Zhu's control—Emperor Zhu intended to trick the Ottomans and the European barbarians; Mahmud was solely focused on digging the Suez Canal, and he didn't care where the money for the canal came from; the local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming were waving Dragon Yuan banknotes, wanting to invest, and the key point was that these people were even hoping that Mahmud II would default.
Even Emperor Zhu was shocked by their thought processes!
The crucial point was that Emperor Zhu could not understand why the people of the Great Ming always came up with new tricks!
This kind of trouble, which was beyond Emperor Zhu's control, had happened more than once or twice!
Emperor Zhu, with a troubled expression, knocked on the table, "Tell me, how should this matter be handled? It's definitely not possible to directly tell those local gentry and scholars. Once they know, I'm afraid those scoundrels would be willing to invest their entire fortunes."
The First Prince Zhu Jianying and Ke Zhiming, along with a group of old ministers present, also knew that what Emperor Zhu said was the truth—the reason why they couldn't directly tell the local gentry and scholars the truth about digging the Suez Canal was not because they were afraid of leaking any information, but mainly because they were worried that those local gentry and scholars would get hot-headed.
The actions of Wang Zixuan in Benghazi before had set a very bad precedent for the local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming. Nowadays, the overseas local gentry and scholars of the Great Ming were eager to be like the neurotic Hamid.
If they knew that the Great Ming was plotting against the Ottoman Empire, and might even be fighting on two fronts in New South Wales and the Ottoman Empire, those local gentry and scholars would definitely wave Dragon Yuan banknotes to the Ottoman Empire while returning to their hometowns to rally the young and strong men to go to sea.
Life?
In the face of the four words "honoring ancestors," and in the face of a separate page in the family tree, life was the least important thing!
Upon thinking of such a terrifying scene, even Ke Zhiming, the Commander of the Imperial Guard, who had seen countless deaths and was known for his ruthlessness and cruelty in the Ming court, couldn't help but shiver.
Ke Zhiming frowned and said, "It's easier to handle other places, but the merchants in Istanbul..."
This was the most troublesome part.
It was easy to handle merchants in other places. As long as Emperor Zhu issued an order, those merchants would not be able to come to the Ottoman Empire, and thus would have no opportunity to cause trouble.
Only the merchants of the Great Ming in Istanbul were the most difficult to handle, because Emperor Zhu could not withdraw them on a large scale without reason, especially before the construction of the Suez Canal. If the merchants of the Great Ming were withdrawn on a large scale, the entire concession of the Great Ming and even the entire Ottoman Empire would be shaken.
The current unstable Ottoman Empire did not align with the interests of the Great Ming.
If this alerted the European countries, it would align even less with the interests of the Great Ming.
However, letting the merchants of the Great Ming invest in the Suez Canal project was also not an option. The money invested would be wasted—because Emperor Zhu would not allow the Ottoman Empire to collect taxes on the Suez Canal. The more money these merchants invested now, the greater their future losses would be. When the Great Ming took over the Suez Canal, how would the money invested by those merchants be accounted for?
Should it be calculated as shares? This was completely nonsense, because the Suez Canal was a large-scale infrastructure project at the national level and an important source of commercial tax revenue. Once the Great Ming took over, it could only be controlled by the imperial court.
Directly confiscating the shares of those merchants? It didn't seem good either, after all, they were merchants of the Great Ming, and they had invested real money. Directly confiscating it would seem too ugly.
Therefore, rather than waiting for such messy accounting problems in the future, it was better to prevent them from the beginning.
After a group of people pondered with furrowed brows for a long time, Zhu Jianying suddenly said, "Since we cannot tell them the reason directly, why not lead them elsewhere?"
Emperor Zhu shook his head slightly and sighed, "Foolish son, do you know how much wealth our Ming merchants control in the Ottoman Empire?"
Zhu Jianying was startled and asked, "How much?"
Emperor Zhu sighed, "Let me put it this way, the wealth controlled by our Ming merchants in the Ottoman Empire, although it cannot compare to our national treasury, is definitely not inferior to the British East India Company. I'm referring to those Ming merchants in the Ottoman Empire. Compared to the entire British East India Company, we can even say this: the wealth controlled by our Ming merchants in the Ottoman Empire is more than the wealth possessed by most countries on this small planet."
"Don't look at how honest they are like quails when they return to the Great Ming, but overseas, aren't these guys all ruthless characters?"
"Never mind others, just look at Wang Zixuan. This dog thing grew up with me. I've always called him Miss Wang. Can you believe what this effeminate thing did in Benghazi?"
"You say to lead them elsewhere, but besides our Great Ming, where else on this small planet can accept such a large volume of capital impact?"
However, to Emperor Zhu's surprise, Zhu Jianying smiled slightly and said, "According to your son, there are at least four other places on this small planet that can withstand their impact."
"The first is my second uncle's Qin State, the second is my third uncle's Jin State, the third is the Old Port Administrative Office, and the fourth is New South Wales."
"There's no need to say much about my second uncle and third uncle, as Qin State and Jin State are naturally our territories of the Great Ming, and they implement the Ming Law. If they go there, they won't be able to make much of a stir."
"There's nothing much to say about the Old Port Administrative Office either. The key is New South Wales—although there are some English barbarians in New South Wales, it is generally a wild land, like our Great Ming, it is sparsely populated. For our Great Ming, it is more like a tasteless chicken rib."
"So, why not lead those local gentry and merchants to New South Wales?"
Leading the local gentry and merchants of the Great Ming to compete and fight with the English barbarians when New South Wales was still a wilderness, and then turning New South Wales into an administrative office of the Great Ming after the colonization was almost complete...
It must be said, the First Prince Zhu Jianying's maneuver was truly a bit shameless.
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